Third Solar Maker In A Month Goes Broke

Sorry but China has hundreds of engineers reading every patent filed in the U.S. They will see that crystal, copy it, and have it in production before the kid at MIT gets a pat on the back.

This is a problem in every industry, not just alternative energy.

Medium sized companies 8-9 figure top line sells to private equity. Private equity buys them out but puts major loans on the company books. I'll use the pipe industry as an example that I just saw. $125 million in sales, bought the company for $75 million, but borrowed $125 million. $75 million went to the original owners, $50 million went to the private equity buyers. The guys in private equity just know how to borrow money. You think the sellers would have just borrowed the $125 million in the first place? Yep, if they knew how!

3 years later sales are down, declare bankruptcy, loan is wiped off the books, the banker becomes the owner, and the private equity company still gets paid to manage the company.

This is typical for 75% of all companies of that size today. I see their books all the time.